It’s that simple – even though M’Pumbu has never been stopped with punches in a 23-fight career.

Bellator 91 takes place at Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, N.M. The main card, including the Vegh-M’Pumbu title fight, airs on Spike TV following prelims on Spike.com

“Honestly, I don’t see this fight getting to the third round,” Vegh told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I feel confident that I will be able to take him out in the first or second round. I know I can beat Christian by knockout or submission, but the clearest path to victory for me is to just knock him out.”

And there you have it – the shortest distance, the clearest path, whatever you want to call it, Vegh knows precisely what he’s looking for.

The Solvakian has been on a tear, winning eight straight fights with five stoppages. During Bellator’s 2012 “Summer Series” light heavyweight tournament, he submitted Zelg Galesic 60 seconds into their fight, then picked up a split decision win over Emanuel Newton (who just took out Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in the current tourney) and stopped Travis Wiuff with a 25-second knockout to earn his shot against M’Pumbu.

Though the two were supposed to fight in Season 7 for the title at Bellator 84, a Vegh injury forced him out of the December fight and delayed the bout until now.

That kept M’Pumbu on the shelf even longer – the champ hasn’t fought since a November 2011 non-title loss to Wiuff. It’s been nearly two years since he won the title with a third-round TKO of Rich Hale at Bellator 45, giving him three TKO stoppages in the Season 4 light heavyweight tournament to become the promotion’s first 205-pound champ. But the fight with Vegh will be his first defense of the title.

Vegh, the favorite in the fight, knows the champ is dangerous – but believes he is more so.

“I know Christian M’Pumbu is a world-class fighter,” Vegh said. “He’s a champion for a reason. I have a lot of respect for him. But that’s not going to stop me from hurting him on Thursday night. I’m going to knock him out and take his belt from him. He has very powerful punches, as he has shown with his knockouts in Bellator. But I feel like I’m better than him in all areas. I know I have the tools to beat him. I also know that I have the power in my fists to put him to sleep. That’s what I plan to do.”

The old fighting adage is that no one is looking past the opponent in front of them. And that may be true for Vegh. Well, mostly true.

Let’s just say the challenger is confident enough in what he believes will happen Thursday to have been paying plenty of attention to the current Season 8 tournament, which will see Newton take on Mikhail Zayats in the finals.

“The fighters that fought in the current tournament were the best yet,” Vegh said. “I’m really excited to see who ends up winning it so I can see who I will be fighting next. But right now, I’m just focused on the task at hand. My only focus right now is to knock Christian out and become the next Bellator light heavyweight world champion.

“After I get that belt around my waist, I will take on anyone that earns the right to fight me.”

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